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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25543495">it started out with a (lip ring)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/uchiwaka/pseuds/uchiwaka'>uchiwaka</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Kissing, Lots of kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, Neck Kissing, Oblivious Bokuto Koutarou, Pining, Unresolved Sexual Tension, basically kissing the homies goodnight in a fic, but this is actually gay, could be read as a oneshot but i promised to relieve the tension, edit now that i have relieved the tension i must add New Tension of the gay kind, friends to idiots to lovers, it's really soft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 10:01:12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>16,843</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25543495</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/uchiwaka/pseuds/uchiwaka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>“C’mon man, do it for the kissing.” He pursed his lips and moved closer to Kuroo. He’d never kissed anyone with his lip ring in but Kuroo didn’t need to know that. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>  <em>Not that he was phased a lick. “Some of us don’t need training wheels to make it better. I hear my kissing’s just fine as is.” </em></p><p>  <em>“Or maybe you’re just jealous that I kiss better than you.”</em></p><p>  <em>“How would I know that?” Kuroo grinned at him and the rest of the party just melted away.</em></p><p>  <em>His heartbeat quickly picking up speed, Bokuto rushed out, “Yeah, how would you know that, hm?” </em></p><p>  <em>The hint of humor was unmistakable, Kuroo leaned in just outside his personal bubble, leaving Bokuto overwhelmed with the almost-there closeness. His eyes somehow maintained the slow thrum through his bones, but the deep stare that Kuroo gave so often, the one that typically saw through every inch of him, had Bokuto feeling more upset at himself that he wasn’t sober enough to interpret it. </em></p><p>  <em>“Careful, Bo. Sounds like you’re asking for something.”</em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>or five bf (best friend) kisses and one <em>bf</em> (boyfriend) kiss, ya feel. or almost, at least.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bokuto Koutarou/Kuroo Tetsurou</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>229</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this started out as kuroo kissing bo's cheeks all the time bc they're so cute and now we're here...</p><p>idk why i feel the need to provide background for all my fics but ! i was reading the nekoma vs fukuro match and when bokuto tipped his head back with that sweet smile i just 🥺 lauren and i just ranted to each other about how he deserves cheek smooches and thus ! this fic was born sdhksbfw</p><p>needless to say, i'm not caught up with the manga so this probably strays quite a bit from canon so spoiler-free !!</p><p>this is probably my favorite fic I've ever written so I hope you enjoy !! also biiiiig ty to my friend lauren for being there with me throughout this entire fic process and your wonderful reactions to each clip of this fic lmaoo</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To say Bokuto doesn’t know how it happened would be a <em>bit </em>of a stretch, but in his defense, it all happened so quickly. He <em>does</em> know for sure that they had always been touchy friends. (Of course, there were certain lines of the touchy-feely kind that they didn’t cross.)</p><p>And sure, he acknowledged that Kuroo was hot, who wouldn’t? He had eyes! And, okay, yeah, maybe the lilt of his smirk made him feel things sometimes or the reach of Kuroo’s long fingers when he jumped up to block Bokuto’s straights or the gleam of sweat that littered across his brows and down his chest, smaller drips trailing down and disappearing beneath his waistline as he lifted his shirt to wipe it out of his eyes, but whenever he had those feelings, he locked them away in a cage at the back of his mind to be opened at a later date. </p><p>When they graduated, they rented an apartment together once they realized they both had plans to go to the same university, and honestly, living with Kuroo was easy. He was much neater than Bokuto but didn’t get upset with a few stray papers here and there. In all fairness, they hadn’t seen much of each other at first, with Kuroo giving up volleyball to focus on science and Bokuto’s practice keeping him focused. They cooked dinner together some nights -- or, rather, he cooked for them because Kuroo in the kitchen was a fire hazard -- and they did weekly movie nights that Kenma and Akaashi came to sometimes when they weren’t saddled with practice.</p><p>Their touching really got ramped up more in their second year, with occasional cuddling sessions and the like. Then the staring started happening. Bokuto got his lip piercing about a month ago and at first, Kuroo hadn’t had a lot of questions but he wouldn’t stop <em>looking at it. </em>Bokuto was usually pretty oblivious with things like that but it didn’t seem like Kuroo was keeping it much of a secret. He’d thought that maybe Kuroo just found it unattractive on him but Kuroo wasn’t like that. So maybe he wanted his own? </p><p>Figuring that Kuroo would bring it up himself, Bokuto tried to ignore it. He liked Kuroo a lot and things had been great and strictly platonic. Which Bokuto was perfectly fine with! He expected it to be that way forever until a, uh, <em>slight </em>hiccup.</p><p>Said slight hiccup currently had his arms around Bokuto’s waist and a very warm chin tucked into his shoulder. Bokuto was nothing if not great at rolling with the punches and, truth be told, he was absolutely enjoying how warm Kuroo’s touches made him. Every now and then he’d squeeze just a little bit tighter or he’d tuck his nose into Bokuto’s neck to make him squirm. Of course, the alcohol in the plastic cup he was currently gripping might have also played a slight role in the heat crawling up the sides of his face. </p><p>It was Bokuto’s idea to go out with friends to celebrate the end of finals. After seeing how stressed Kuroo had been the past couple days, forgoing lunches for hefty biochem textbooks and study sessions that sometimes even bled into dinner, Bokuto wanted to celebrate a normal sleeping schedule by, of course, completely fucking it up with a party. </p><p>Bokuto brought his cup up to his mouth and chewed on the rim, grinning at the story Kuroo was telling the group. He’d backed up off of Bokuto to gesture wildly with his hands, his voice carrying across the room. Unlike Bokuto, Kuroo’s energy lasted the length of his story and the attention given during then. When he was done, conversation resumed and his arm draped back across Bokuto’s shoulders.</p><p>Bokuto soaked attention into his bones, <em>thriving </em>off it. Usually, when he was in a conversation, he had to be at the center of it or he wasn’t satisfied. Now, the itch was somewhat quelled as he hummed in satisfaction at being tucked underneath Kuroo’s chin. </p><p>“Bo, you good?”</p><p>Bokuto blinked and turned his head towards where Kuroo was looking at him. He was <em>so close. </em>Had he always been this close?</p><p>“Of course, bro,” he beamed, his words slurring towards the end of his sentence. </p><p>“You’re a little more touchy than usual, not that I’m complaining.” Kuroo grinned brightly back and the hand holding Bokuto’s cup slacked a little bit. His cheek had just the slightest indentation like a dimple got lost along the way. Bokuto crept his hand up Kuroo’s cheek, caressing the side of his face. His skin was soft to the touch and he just barely restrained himself from stroking his thumb across his cheekbone. Flicking his eyes over to look at Kuroo’s face reflexively, he caught the furrow of Kuroo’s eyebrows for just a quick second and that was enough to jolt him out. </p><p>Bokuto squeezed Kuroo’s cheek, ignoring his hiss of pain to straighten up and fully escape his hold. </p><p>“Ow, dick,” Kuroo pouted, rubbing the side of his face. </p><p>Stretching, Bokuto just barely dodged a swipe to his own cheek. “Can you even feel your face?” he laughed. </p><p>“It’s the principle of the thing.” Aiming lower this time, Kuroo pinched his nipple and twisted, cackling at Bokuto’s ensuing howl. </p><p>“Not the nips! Asshole,” he cried. “I’m prepping these for surgery.”</p><p>“Oh, so you were serious about piercing them?”</p><p>Bokuto puffed up, his hands still protecting his pecs. “I’d never joke about that. Besides, my lip guy said he’d give me a good price.”</p><p>He smirked as Kuroo’s eyes flickered over his mouth, his tongue darting out to lick at the metal on his bottom lip. Kuroo leveled him with a bored look but Bokuto didn’t miss how he hadn’t looked away. “Hm.”</p><p>“They take, like, a year to heal, though,” Bokuto pouted, remembering the conversation with his piercer. She’d said anywhere from 6 to 12 months, not even taking into account that the piercings themselves can hurt <em>a lot</em>. And then he’d have to take a break from chest receives...</p><p>“Could always try something else. I heard Daichi was thinking about getting a bar through his eyebrow.”</p><p>“That’d be sick! Or maybe one on my tongue like Terushima? I hear they make kissing more fun,” he grinned. </p><p>Kuroo hummed again, getting an even more thoughtful look on his face. One of his fingers reached up and flicked the ring on his lip. “I bet.”</p><p>Deciding he couldn’t let the look go this time, given his increased lack of inhibitions, Bokuto commented, “Are you thinking about getting one? Because I could set up an appointment with my guy. Or I could do it! I could get a kit online and after seeing mine done I could totally-”</p><p>“Bo. I’m stopping you right there. There is no way I’m letting you with a sharp object anywhere near my face.”</p><p>Bokuto gawked and crossed his arms, keeping his thankfully empty cup tucked close to his chest. “I could do it really well, and you’re always looking at <em>my </em>piercings,” he protested. Kuroo’s eyes widened which only confused Bokuto further. “Are you worried about it hurting? Because you <em>can’t </em>be worried about whether or not you’ll look good.”</p><p>Like he said, Kuroo was sexy as hell. It was very clear that he had given his all during his middle and high school volleyball career because the man was <em>stacked, </em>especiallyin the thigh region<em>. </em>Just imagining Kuroo with any type of piercing was already stirring up some feelings and rattling the box at the back of his mind that he firmly kept a seal on. </p><p>Kuroo barked out a surprised laugh that threw his head back. “I’m worried about you inflicting permanent damage on me.” </p><p>“I’ll be gentle.” Bokuto widened his eyes as big as possible, maintaining his lieu of innocence but Kuroo saw right through it, shoving a hand in his face. </p><p>“Like hell you will.”</p><p>“C’mon man, do it for the kissing.” He pursed his lips and moved closer to Kuroo. He’d never kissed anyone with his lip ring in but Kuroo didn’t need to know that. </p><p>Not that he was phased a lick. “Some of us don’t need training wheels to make it better. I hear my kissing’s just fine as is.” </p><p>First of all, ouch. Second of all, Bokuto’s kissing was great. More than, even! Some had even said it was perfect — he believes <em>tantalizing</em> was the word often used to describe just how amazing his kissing was. </p><p>“Or maybe you’re just jealous that I kiss better than you.”</p><p>“How would I know that?” Kuroo grinned at him and the rest of the party just melted away.</p><p>The rush he got at <em>this</em> kind of interaction with Kuroo, where they’re close but not too close and Kuroo gave him that <em>look</em>, Bokuto always pushed for more and more and Kuroo always gave it to him. As was their dynamic — they built off each other, giving Bokuto the attention he greedily drank up. </p><p>His heartbeat quickly picking up speed, Bokuto rushed out, “Yeah, how would you know that, hm?” </p><p>Kuroo leveled a look at him that sobered him up rather quickly. The hint of humor was unmistakable, Kuroo leaned in just outside his personal bubble, leaving Bokuto overwhelmed with the almost-there closeness. His eyes somehow maintained the slow thrum through his bones, but the deep stare that Kuroo gave so often, the one that typically saw through every inch of him, had Bokuto feeling more upset at himself that he wasn’t sober enough to interpret it. </p><p>“Careful, Bo. Sounds like you’re asking for something.”</p><p>“I’m just saying, you never know until you try. It wouldn't surprise me if your kissing needed work, that’s all.”</p><p>“Oh, so you can’t get me to kiss you so your final result is insulting me.” </p><p>Bokuto knew he was joking but it didn’t make him any less defensive. As if he <em>needed </em>Kuroo to kiss him at all. Was he excited at the prospect of getting Kuroo to kiss him? Yes. Would it be for Kuroo’s benefit so he can see that a lip ring is the way to go? Of course! </p><p>“Who’d wanna kiss you anyways,” he huffed, not quite sure why he was getting so bothered, but absolutely not willing to back down. “That’s the real question.” </p><p>“Sounds like you do.”</p><p>“<em>I’m just saying! </em>I was a great — no, <em>fantastic </em>kisser before my piercing and it’s now made my kissing a million times better which means I’m way better than you.” </p><p>“Wanna put that to the test?”</p><p>Bokuto choked on his spit and pointed a finger at Kuroo from where he stood across from him, Kuroo’s grin fully spread to his entire face at this point; the more flustered Bokuto got, the worse it was. “So you do wanna kiss me!“ Wait. Waaaaait. </p><p>“I never said I didn’t,” he thought he heard Kuroo mutter, but it was too late for Bokuto to be factoring anything else in right now. He was on a mission. </p><p>He frowned deeply, working his muddled brain overtime. Unless he meant getting someone else to do it. <em>Psh. </em>So he thought he’d bait Bokuto into <em>admitting</em> that he was maybe a little interested. As if he was falling for that. “Riight. What, are we both gonna make out with someone in this room and then get them to judge which one is better?” he preened, proud of himself for catching it in time. </p><p>Well, in the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t the worst idea. But it’d have to be someone they both didn’t know so that they could give their honest opinion. Which would be great and prove his point, but… </p><p><em>Sigh</em>. But he’d gotten his hopes up for kissing Kuroo and so what if he was maybe a little disappointed! He could recognize the droop in his shoulders for what it was. </p><p>“Stop thinking so hard, you’ll hurt yourself,” Kuroo full-belly cackled, interrupting his thought process. </p><p>Scowling, Bokuto flicked him off for derailing his train. “You’re sending me mixed singles. Fuck off, I’m tryna work.” </p><p>“<em>Signals. </em>And I’m so sorry about that,” he said, not sounding sorry at all but at least his teasing smile had died down, “maybe this’ll clear it up.” </p><p>Kuroo’s palms cupped Bokuto’s cheeks, rubbing his thumbs across his cheekbones in the same way he’d wanted to do earlier. Bokuto shivered as the tips of Kuroo’s fingers teased the hair at the back of his neck that completely ignored his hair gel. </p><p>Bokuto’s mind went completely blank as Kuroo pulled him firmly into a kiss, using the hands on his face as directives. Kuroo gently pulled him in and out of each kiss, coaxing out his tongue and rolling his eyes back into his head. </p><p>If this was Kuroo convincing him that he was fine without a lip ring, he couldn’t even verbalize how well the message was received, but kissing him with one in? <em>Gods, </em>he couldn’t even imagine how hot it’d be. Could it be better than this, though, with Kuroo alternating between licking and biting his lip, flicking his ring around with his tongue this time instead of with his finger. </p><p>But if he was still trying to convince Kuroo to get one, he’d have to start pulling out some stops because he could feel his brain slowly melting. Bokuto ran his hands up the back of Kuroo’s shirt, fully ignoring the party still going on around them to press their bodies even closer together. Pushing against Kuroo’s hands, Bokuto dragged the kiss into his own, slower rhythm. Kuroo smirked against his mouth and followed his lead, but he could <em>feel </em>his fingers creeping up Bokuto’s neck, running his fingers through the hair at his nape before quickly moving up. It wasn’t until he’d gripped a handful of his hair and <em>tugged </em>that Bokuto let out a low whine and quickly forgot what he was doing. </p><p>Every time Bokuto could feel himself start to gain some semblance of an upper hand, Kuroo would tilt his head back just that little bit more until Bokuto could barely even support his head. Kuroo had maybe a couple of inches on him and he used every bit of it to his advantage. All Bokuto could do was hum in delight and tighten his grip on Kuroo’s waist whenever his teeth grazed over his bottom lip. Yep. Good try, team. </p><p>They both pulled back and Bokuto left his head from where it was tilted up, eyes half-lidded and his chest heaving. “I won,” he breathed, licking his lips. </p><p>“It wasn’t a competition,” Kuroo scoffed. His hands were loosely rested on Bokuto’s shoulders, the ring on one of his thumbs dragging against his neck as he ran them up and down the length of his throat. “But I totally won.”</p><p>Kuroo’s amber eyes were focused on Bokuto’s mouth and it was doing absolutely nothing to help him clear out the fuzziness from his head. “Agree to disagree.” </p><p>“Your lip ring did most of the convincing for you, though,” he teased, tapping a finger against his lip and looking thoughtful. “Guess it would be more fun if the piercing was on my tongue, though.”</p><p>“Not that anybody would be able to feel it halfway down their throat,” he snarked back, haughty at the insult to his kissing skills. </p><p>“Hah! What, you don’t like the way I kiss?” Kuroo got very, very close to Bokuto’s face as if to emphasize that Bokuto was full of shit. Which he absolutely was but it kinda made it hard to focus on forming a sentence. </p><p>And Bokuto could already barely be bothered to strain and focus on the conversation, instead, marveling at how Kuroo’s mouth formed over each kana, his tongue slipping and blurring words together sometimes.  </p><p>“Practice makes perfect,” Bokuto blinked owlishly, a wide, sly grin slowly splitting his face. </p><p>“Hm,” he hummed, a matching smile on his face. </p><p>“Are we heading back then?” he added, sticking both of his hands in his back pocket. </p><p>Bokuto grunted back and followed him out the front door of the party, smiling back at his friends who nodded at him on his way out. Thankfully, they left in time to catch one of the last trains back to their dorm building, cutting their walking time by more than half. </p><p>Kuroo didn’t address the kiss at all on their way back, not that Bokuto was worried about it, and once they made it back, they went to their separate rooms. And all he could think about as he laid in bed was how that didn’t clear up a <em>thing. </em></p><p>...</p><p> </p><p>(What surprised him was that it didn’t stop there.) Bokuto woke up the next morning, fully believing that what had happened was a very detailed, very lucid — very nice, he’s not gonna lie. Kuroo’s lips were <em>so soft </em> — dream that he’d cooked up in some kind of drunken stupor. They’d both been under the influence and clearly Kuroo didn’t think of him that way. It was just a, uh, friend thing. You know, kissing the homies goodnight type thing. (And hopefully good morning and good evening… maybe even good afternoon, too...)</p><p>And Kuroo did not help him the next day, wholly going about his daily business as if nothing had happened. Bokuto had gotten up early to go for a jog and make breakfast, as per usual, and when Kuroo rolled out of bed at a no longer socially acceptable time, he’d simply smiled at him and made a crack about him getting sweat in the eggs -- which he <em>wasn’t, </em>but that was neither here nor there<em>. </em></p><p>There was a beat after Bokuto replied -- vehemently defending his honor and personal hygiene -- that Bokuto couldn’t help but feel was his fault like they were both waiting for him to <em>say something</em> and then the moment passed and Kuroo announced he wanted to watch TV, trudging over to the living room. Bokuto frowned but finished making the eggs he’d started, settling down under the kotatsu with Kuroo. </p><p>He could’ve been perfectly resigned to never speaking about it. It was just a one-time thing that they would laugh about in a few months when Bokuto actually got around to getting his nipple piercing. Or if Kuroo decided to get that tongue piercing. Bokuto paused in his chewing just thinking about it. While he was drunk at the time, his memory of the event wasn’t <em>that </em>hazy, but he could pretend it was for the sake of friendship. </p><p>And it would’ve been even easier if Kuroo hadn’t decided to look so damn kissable. It really had him wondering why on earth he hadn’t been kissing Kuroo all this time. </p><p>Given that he’d woken up no less than half an hour ago, Kuroo was still dressed in his comfy sleepwear, his head rested on the foot of the couch, sneaking pieces of toast when he thought Bokuto wasn’t looking and he was fucking <em>cute</em>. </p><p>Bokuto could feel himself staring, but he didn’t care. Last night, Kuroo’s hair had been so soft and it was all he could do to restrain himself from running his fingers through it now. Not that it didn’t already look like he had. One of the pillows he used to press his hair together while he slept must’ve slipped off in the middle of the night because one side looked distinctly more sleep mussed than the other. </p><p>“What’re you smiling about?” Kuroo questioned, eating the last of his toast.</p><p>Bokuto couldn’t even manage to get mad -- unhelpfully, all his brain could supply was <em>kiss him. </em>“Just thinking about how ridiculous your hair looks.”</p><p>“I’m guessing you haven’t looked in a mirror recently.” Kuroo’s mischievous smirk tilted up at the edges like he was telling a joke that only he was in on.</p><p>Actually, he <em>had </em>looked into a mirror recently so he knew exactly what Kuroo was referencing. Last night, he was so tired that he came home and fell immediately into his bed, leaving his hair in its original state which wasn’t great considering Kuroo had gone to town in there. When he went for his jog this morning, he put on a hairband and hoped that it would just flop down naturally, alas...</p><p>“Well maybe if you hadn’t messed up my hair so badly yesterday then it wouldn’t look like this!”</p><p>“You weren’t complaining yesterday.”</p><p>Bokuto swallowed his bite of food harshly, trying to subtly clear his throat as it barely avoided his windpipe. Kuroo carried on eating and watching T.V. as if he hadn’t said anything while Bokuto tried to quietly not die. </p><p>“Fine, then,” he grumbled, once he’d gotten himself under control. “We’ll see how you like it next time.”</p><p>“As if,” he scoffed, still eyeing the movie, but Bokuto could see the flush of red creep up his cheeks. “You’re not going anywhere near my head next time.”</p><p>“Oh yeah?” he blinked placidly. Bokuto took a sip of his tea and placed it down gently before reaching over to bury his hands in Kuroo’s hair, quick enough that Kuroo’s reaction was way too late. Kuroo flailed his body around, trying to shake him off and only succeeding in banging his knee against the underside of the kotatsu. </p><p>By the time he could slide the majority of the upper half of his body out from under it, Bokuto was already straddling his waist and was not-so-gently raking his hands through Kuroo’s hair, cackling the entire time.</p><p>“I’m glad you find this so funny,” Kuroo scowled, trying to push him off by pressing against his chest. It tickled more than anything, with how close Kuroo’s hands were to his sides. Realizing it wasn’t doing anything, Kuroo accepted his fate and sprawled out where he lay parallel to the couch. </p><p>“Now it looks like when you towel your hair dry or like you put your finger in a socket.”</p><p>Kuroo sighed. “Why do I like you again?”</p><p>Bokuto’s grip in Kuroo’s hair flexed for half a second as the question rattled around in his mind. “Because I’m such a great volleyball player.”</p><p>“Nah, that can’t be it. I’ll think on it, though. Clearly not your hair styling or comparison skills.” Despite the teasing, Kuroo’s fingers tickled the soles of Bokuto’s feet, darting backward when Bokuto tried to kick him only to come back and harass them all over again. </p><p>Kuroo’s eyes were molten gold, just <em>that </em>much lighter than his own, and piercing. Bokuto could be in the other room and still feel them looking through him. Being this close to him, he didn’t bother resisting the mantra he’d been hearing since seeing Kuroo’s sleepy face this morning. </p><p>Bokuto bent down far enough that he was nearly laying on top of Kuroo and kissed him. A pleased noise escaped him as Kuroo kissed back leisurely. Eventually, Kuroo pulled back reluctantly and wrinkled his nose. </p><p>He snapped the band of Bokuto’s headband. “You smell.”</p><p>“And you taste like my toast.”</p><p>“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kuroo replied quickly, not even feigning remorse. He wanted to kiss him again. </p><p>Leaning down far enough that their mouths ever so gently brushed together, Kuroo gripped Bokuto’s jaw just before they could touch. “Shower,” he smirked, bringing his mouth up a little bit more, “and I’ll let you kiss me.”</p><p>Bokuto scrambled off of him and hightailed it to his bathroom, taking the quickest shower of his lifetime. He scrubbed the shampoo through his hair and rinsed it out so fast he got soap in his eyes. He ignored the burning and darted out the bathroom and into his room to put clothes on, almost positive he could hear Kuroo cackling over on the couch. Not that it’d make any difference in about five seconds. </p><p>Once he was clothed, Bokuto weaved around the kotatsu and various potted plants and bounded towards Kuroo, ignoring his protests as he jumped straight onto Kuroo’s lap, nearly knocking their heads together in the process. </p><p>Kuroo groaned and reeled back, supporting the backs of Bokuto’s thighs. “I think you broke my dick.” </p><p>Bokuto rested his arms on the back of the sofa that Kuroo had moved to sit in, clearly anticipating at least some of Bokuto’s antics. “Can you cry about it after we kiss?”</p><p>“So impatient,” he grumbled, leaning his head in between Bokuto’s hands. “Did you even use soap?”</p><p>“If I said no, would you make me go back in the shower?” he breathed, lowering his head down enough to just catch Kuroo’s sharp intake of breath before bringing their lips together. The kiss quickly picked up speed -- he didn’t know what it was about kissing Kuroo that made him want to <em>take take take. </em></p><p>Bokuto hiked himself up to his knees and used what height advantage he had now to greedily take control of every inch of the kiss. He could feel Kuroo’s fingers digging into the backs of his thighs, pulling them apart so Bokuto would have to straddle farther to make up for what height Kuroo couldn’t stretch to. </p><p>Breaking apart, Kuroo trailed his hands <em>up up </em>to the middle of Bokuto’s back and left lingering kisses in some places down his neck, dragging his tongue down others. Bokuto panted and gripped the back of the couch, feeling just a hint of teeth under his jawline as Kuroo pulled him closer. </p><p>“Relax,” he mumbled into the crook of his neck, his hands not seeming to get the message as they pulled him even closer. Bokuto choked out a laugh and laid his head on Kuroo’s shoulder. </p><p>Kuroo squawked, burying a hand in Bokuto’s hair and tugging back to get him off. “Your hair is dripping all over me,” he protested. </p><p>“Uh,” Bokuto provided, still slightly useless thanks to the hand in his hair and the biting heat spread throughout his body as a result. </p><p>Kuroo grumbled and let go, allowing Bokuto to catch his breath. All he could do was lean back and watch as strip after strip of skin was shown as Kuroo peeled his damp tee off his body and began to dry Bokuto’s hair, gazing avidly as Kuroo’s biceps stretched to get the top of his head and relaxed when he realized that was as good as it was going to get. </p><p>“No way,” Kuroo shot down, shoving a hand in Bokuto’s face. Bokuto hadn’t even realized how close he’d gotten to his chest. “No more kissing until you calm down.”</p><p>Bokuto twisted his head out of his hold, tossing the wet shirt behind the couch. “I am calm!”</p><p>“Mhm.” Kuroo ran his fingers through Bokuto’s still sopping wet hair, tucking what would stay behind his ear. “Did you really not use soap?”</p><p>“Of course I did, I was gross.”</p><p>“Didn’t think the soap would help with that,” he baited, pinching Bokuto’s nipple <em>again. </em>It’s like he had a complex. A severe, nipple-pinching complex.</p><p>Bokuto batted his hands away and struggled to pin them against the couch. “I told you I was prepping those!”</p><p>Kuroo bucked up against him and used his grip to flip Bokuto’s back onto the couch, leading towards his nipples but turning, instead, to his sides, starting an all-out wrestling war that ended with the both of them splayed out on the ground beside the couch yet again, this time with their heads together. </p><p>Panting, they both laid there for a little while before Kuroo started: “So. I was watching YouTube in my bed a couple weeks ago, right, and I saw this experiment for homemade fireworks and all we need are a few household items and some potassium nitrate and-”</p><p>“Japanese, please.”</p><p>“You wanna blow shit up?” </p><p>“Always,” he grinned. </p><p>…</p><p>Bokuto was <em>dying. </em>Yes, actually. It was fully possible to die of boredom and it was happening to him right now.</p><p>He sprawled out on the couch, pushing his sock off at the heel with his toe and then struggling to put it back on, rinsing and repeating the process over again countless times. Accidentally, his toe pushed the sock too far up his foot and he let out a heavy sigh, his feet not having the manpower or grip to pull it back down. Frustrated, he ripped the sock off and tossed it up into the air with the intent to catch it. </p><p>Kenma didn’t miss a beat from where he sat in front of his Switch, Zelda projected up on their mediocre television screen. “Stop sighing, Kuroo will be back soon.”</p><p>“Yeah,” he sighed again, reaching behind his head to catch a particularly wide throw. He was probably not being a good host but Kenma seemed perfectly content to sit there and play video games and Bokuto was perfectly content to sit there and mope.</p><p>Well, not <em>mope </em>per se<em>, </em>but definitely <em>pout. </em></p><p>Winter break began a couple days ago and while, typically, Bokuto would cram in as much practice as he could, Kenma and Akaashi decided to make the trip up and stay the weekend in their apartment before heading back down and resigning themselves to endless training camp. </p><p>They all got lunch and chilled around campus yesterday before Akaashi had to leave, being that he’d only been allowed to miss one day of volleyball, so it was just Bokuto, Kuroo, and Kenma for the rest of the night -- two now, with Kuroo dipping out to grab more sake.</p><p>Bokuto should’ve been enjoying his downtime but he couldn’t fight the underlying itch inside his bones and it probably had something to do with the fact that he hadn’t kissed in Kuroo in around 24 hours. Possibly. </p><p>It’s just that Kuroo had spent the couple days before Kenma and Akaashi got there either in a cleaning frenzy or running errands, so much so that Bokuto felt like he had barely gotten to see his face which, okay, he could admit was a little dramatic but that's what it felt like! And when they were all together, they got to spend time as a group which was amazing and Bokuto didn’t regret it at all (he missed Akaashi tons so it was really awesome to spend time with him), but then he’d still have to look at Kuroo’s stupid face and stupid mouth and know that it wasn’t exactly socially acceptable to lean over and make-out with him. </p><p>He’d been completely spoiled by having Kuroo alone this entire time and now that he had to share him with other people he was having to unfortunately readjust. When Akaashi was here, he could act as a buffer and Bokuto could cajole him into giving information about what the starting lineup of Fukurodani looked like now and stuff, but once he left, the quiet made him antsy. </p><p>Refusing to let the silence beat him, Bokuto stretched his neck back and peered over at where Kenma was shooting arrows at some metal monster. “So, any exciting matches recently?”</p><p>Kenma flicked his eyes over to look at Bokuto before focusing back on his game. “Not really,” he shrugged. </p><p>Bokuto nodded and tossed his sock up higher in the air. “No games against Karasuno, then?”</p><p>Kenma sighed. “You sound like Kuroo.”</p><p>Bokuto tossed his sock up again and snorted, unable to fight off a small smile. He knew he fucked up when he felt it slip off his fingers wrong, his whole body flinching in anticipation of the soft hit.  When it didn’t come, Bokuto blinked open his eyes to examine where the sock could be, seeing it hanging loosely in Kuroo’s hand before he promptly dropped it smack on his face. “What about me?” he smirked, narrowly dodging the sock thrown at his face.</p><p>“Nothing,” he beamed innocently, ignoring the beat his heart skipped and peeling off his other sock to throw that one too. “Just that you’re annoying.”</p><p>Kuroo cackled and swatted the other one away, placing the shopping bag of snacks on top of the kotatsu. </p><p>“I brought the alcohol,” he announced, presumably to the group but he was looking straight at Bokuto when he said it. Just as he had been since attacking him behind the couch, his eyes soft around the edges the same way it gets when he’s particularly happy about something. The kind of happy that sits in your chest and warms the tips of your fingers. Bokuto pinched his bottom lip between his fingers, messing with his lip ring and staving off a giddy smile. </p><p>Kuroo moved around the table to stand in front of Bokuto, ruffling Kenma’s hair as he passed. “Did you take a nap or something?”</p><p>Bokuto’s brows furrowed, trying to decide if he should be insulted or not. He decided on no, unable to get pissed off at Kuroo when he was standing so close to him with <em>that </em>look on his face. “No. Why?”</p><p>He shook his head, a soft smile still on his face. “Nothing. You just look…”</p><p>“Cute?” he guessed, grinning harder.</p><p>Kuroo rolled his eyes and bent down, placing a hand on Bokuto’s cheek. “I was gonna say stupid.”</p><p>“Mhm,” he hummed, intending for it to sound sarcastic, instead, feeling it come out much more satisfied as he stretched up the last few inches to (finally) meet Kuroo’s lips.</p><p>The longer the kiss went on, the farther Bokuto’s neck stretched, fighting to get Kuroo closer. Thankfully, Kuroo took pity on him and kneeled on the couch to get a better angle. Kuroo’s hands gently caressed Bokuto’s face, his thumbs running soothing circles along his cheekbones, and Bokuto placed his own hands on top of his, smiling into the sweet kisses. </p><p>The unease he’d felt in the silence before was completely quelled now, the pit of his stomach churning happily from simply his proximity to Kuroo. Each kiss was sweet and lingering, his lips tingling each time they broke away. When Kuroo moved to pull back for good, Bokuto chased his mouth upwards, blinking his eyes back open.</p><p>“Greedy,” Kuroo murmured, giving in and planting another <em>one, two </em>kisses on Bokuto’s lips before his smile got too wide and they pulled away. Kuroo turned to rustle through the bags to pull out the snacks he bought and Bokuto melted into the couch, smiling contentedly. </p><p>“Uh,” a voice called out and Bokuto opened his eyes again to see Kenma looking between the two of them with a confused look on his face. Oh, right. He forgot Kenma was here.</p><p>“What,” Kuroo asked, peering up at Kenma from where he was funneling cup ramen in his face. </p><p>“Are you gonna… explain..?” He leveled a heavy gaze at Kuroo before glancing back at Bokuto.</p><p>Kuroo and Bokuto shared a confused look before turning back to Kenma. “Explain... what?”</p><p>Kenma’s face quickly shifted from bemusement to exhaustion -- it was like watching him go through each stage of grief all at once. “What I mean is, are you guys dating?” Kenma relaying the question sounded like the verbal equivalent of rubbing his temples.</p><p>Kuroo choked on a particularly rough inhale of noodles and Bokuto thought about the question before answering, “No.” Not that the idea of dating Kuroo didn’t make his stomach completely flip. Getting to spend as much time with Kuroo as he wanted, cuddling, kissing whenever… Wow, whoever gets to date Kuroo must be a lucky person.</p><p>Kenma actually did rub his temples this time. “Fine. Whatever. Just toss me a can.”</p><p>Bokuto raised an eyebrow at Kuroo and he shrugged back after handing Kenma his drink. Realizing the conversation had thus been settled, Bokuto settled back and splayed himself on the couch. It was, graciously, long enough to fit him as it was one of the first purchases they’d bought for their apartment, figuring it was what people would see most often. Kuroo was tucked under the kotatsu again, given how easily he gets cold, and rested his head on Bokuto’s knee. </p><p>Kuroo reached up to squeeze Bokuto’s knee and he grabbed his hand before it could rejoin the other one, leaving him to struggle to eat the last of his noodles with one hand. He wasn’t feeling particularly sympathetic though as he played with each of Kuroo’s fingers, spinning the rings he wore on his thumb and middle finger, decidedly <em>not</em> thinking about what would happen if Kuroo ever <em>did </em>decide to date someone. </p><p>...</p><p>Bokuto jolted awake after having dreamt, very specifically, that he’d biked downhill and straight into a tree. He’d let go of the handles for half a second and had careened straight into a tree no sooner. Blinking his eyes open, the tree had taken the place of an equally lanky volleyball player with a smirk and a(nother) pillow in his hands instead of leaves and branches.</p><p>“Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty,” Kuroo crooned, tossing another pillow at his head. This one, thankfully, missed his face and landed beside him. Bokuto clutched the one at his chest at the quite rude awakening and grabbed the tossed pillow off of his face, throwing it back across the room. </p><p>“Fuck off,” he mumbled, already re-burying his face in his sheets. His pulse pounding in his veins from the scarring dream told him sleeping was a futile task but it didn’t stop him from trying anyway. Practice was <em>exhausting. </em>He just wanted to finish his short nap and then go for a run later but sleep <em>first. </em>Maybe if he stayed in bed a little longer, Kuroo would take pity on him.</p><p>No such luck, it seemed like, as he felt his bed dip where Kuroo decided to sit on the side of Bokuto’s bed. “C’mooon,” he snickered, running his fingers through Bokuto’s sleep-mussed hair. “I bought meat buns,” he continued matter-of-factly like that's all he had to say to get him out of bed. </p><p>
Well, joke’s on him. Bokuto huffed and tightened his stomach, repressing the noises dying to escape at the mention of food. “Not hungry.” Despite his best efforts, a whine interrupted his sentence halfway through it.</p><p>“Traitor,” he muttered to his stomach, flipping onto his back.</p><p>Kuroo laughed again and stood back up. Bokuto turned and watched as he stretched his lanky body upwards, popping the joints in his back and fingers, letting out a low groan all the while. He must’ve finished class a bit ago because he was dressed in his comfy clothes, the soft cotton of his t-shirt riding up ever so slightly as he flexed his body all the way up to his tiptoes before dropping back down.</p><p>Kuroo tilted an eyebrow at him once he caught him looking, not that Bokuto was trying to be subtle by any means. You know, there was space in the bed. Maybe Kuroo could bring the buns and they could eat in bed and then nap and Bokuto wouldn’t have to move at all and he’d get everything he wanted-- Another slam of a pillow to his face jolted him out of that daydream.</p><p>“My poor head!” he squawked unabashedly, rushing to sit up. “I do actually need that!”</p><p>“Contrary to popular belief. Can you imagine if you used it?”</p><p>Well, he <em>never. “</em>First you wake me up out of my very nice dream, thanks for that by the way, with a pillow to the head! And then after giving me severe brain damage you insult me, call me stupid, and haven’t asked me how my day went at all, <em>actually-”</em></p><p>The rest of Bokuto’s tirade was quickly, and maybe not-so rudely this time, interrupted by a fast and soft press of lips against his. </p><p>“Fine, you’re not stupid,” Kuroo said, so close Bokuto could feel each word murmured against his mouth. Bokuto licked his lips, his half-lidded eyes unable to look away from Kuroo’s molten hazel ones. “How was your day?”</p><p>How was his day, how was his day… What’d he do today again? “It was fine.”</p><p>Kuroo grinned, his eyes flickering down to Bokuto’s mouth and pressing another kiss against it, this one just a little bit longer than the last and Bokuto could feel himself chase after it. “Great. Hurry up and get downstairs, meat buns are getting cold.”</p><p>Bokuto watched Kuroo leave the room again and tightened his fist in the sheet below him, trying unsuccessfully to catch his breath. <em>God, </em>will he ever get used to that? Wait a second, <em>how was his day? Terrible! </em>He’d had to sit out the second half of practice because the knee brace that he brought was the <em>bad </em>one that had rips along some of the sides and wasn’t lucky at all and it’s Kuroo’s fault for losing his good one in the laundry! Asshole, he was getting a piece of his mind. Bokuto kicked off his sheets and stumbled his way into their kitchen where Kuroo was busy stuffing his face in front of the television. </p><p>“You couldn’t even wait for me to get out of bed?”</p><p>Kuroo brushed him off, not bothering to look up from the screen. “You were taking too long.” </p><p>“It was five minutes,” he huffed, ignoring their perfectly good table to sit down next to Kuroo on the couch and eat. Kuroo hummed noncommittally in response, leaning all the way back and relaxing in his seat. </p><p>Bokuto chewed slowly, thinking. He felt <em>weird. </em>Usually, being this close to Kuroo, especially after a kiss like <em>that, </em>would have him on cloud nine, completely sated by Kuroo’s attention and near proximity, but now he just felt <em>off. </em>Like a nugget of fear or doubt had seeded into his mind and made him think about things. Like, what if Kuroo actually decided he <em>did </em>wanna date someone? Where would that leave Bokuto? Nowhere he wanted to be, that’s for sure.</p><p>But what if he was already doing this with other people? </p><p>Bokuto crumbled up the paper that his meat bun came in and tossed it in the bag, watching Kuroo get up and toss it in the trash, flashing him a smile that made him giddy for all of two seconds before the guilt came seeping in. He wouldn’t be, right? </p><p>He had acted like it was no big deal the first time they kissed, but Bokuto had -- selfishly, in retrospect -- believed that it had kinda been their thing. Their super cool thing that they did because they were such great friends and trusted each other implicitly. They’d never talked about it, but… surely?</p><p>Tentatively, Bokuto stated, “Um, about this kissing thing.”</p><p>From the kitchen, Bokuto could hear Kuroo stop rattling around and Bokuto turned to look at him over his shoulder. “Yeah?” he called back, resuming his fiddling with the kettle. </p><p>“You don’t- Do you do it all the time? Like with other people that aren’t me?’</p><p>Even from how far away Kuroo was in the kitchen, he could still hear him exhale a laugh. Kuroo turned off the boiling kettle and poured Bokuto’s tea, leaving it on the counter as he leveled Bokuto with an amused smile. “And why would I do that, bird brain. I don’t like other people, I like you.”</p><p><em>Oh. “</em>Eh?”</p><p>Kuroo laughed harder this time, making his way to where Bokuto sat on the couch and using his hands to box the Bokuto’s head in from the back of the couch. </p><p>“Hey.” Kuroo ran his fingers through the hairs on his forehead that shook loose when he was sleeping. The gentle caressing that Kuroo did was no different from all the other times, but the fond look in Kuroo’s eyes glued him to his seat. Even upside-down, Bokuto couldn’t misread that look in Kuroo’s eyes as anything else but pure, irrevocable affection. “Date me? Like, officially?”</p><p>Bokuto jolted and tilted his head up at him, resting his neck on the back of the couch and craning it upwards to see him. “Wait, what? Me? Really?” </p><p>Kuroo breathed out, laughing softly and bending his head a little further down so that Bokuto’s face was even closer now.</p><p>A content sigh raked through his body and Bokuto felt his eyes flutter shut as Kuroo planted another kiss on his lips, and then another, and then another... Unfortunately, it was the worst angle possible for Bokuto to do any of the reciprocal kissing he so desperately wanted to do. After trying a couple of times to -- unsuccessfully -- deepen the kiss, Bokuto let out a low whine from the back of his throat and nudged Kuroo’s head up with his nose.</p><p>Kuroo didn’t move back so easily, shifting his attention from Bokuto’s mouth to solely his bottom lip, licking across the plush part and in between his ring, the tip of his tongue occasionally slipping and teasing the ridges of his bottom teeth. Bokuto could feel Kuroo’s warm breath against his mouth as he nipped and tugged, giving it a final kiss before nosing underneath his jaw and planting a kiss there. Kuroo kissed his way down the expanse of his neck and Bokuto hummed contentedly, leaning back into the couch. Kuroo’s fingers trailed up and down Bokuto’s jawline and Bokuto pressed his face into Kuroo’s palm, almost purring.</p><p>“You’re such an idiot, ya know? When I kissed you, I thought it was pretty obvious that I was interested.”</p><p>Bokuto spluttered in defense, nearly knocking their heads together in his indignance. “What was obvious about that?” </p><p>“Maybe the kissing part?”</p><p>He huffed and folded his arms across his chest, his delight at the constant attention fading into an unmistakable pout. This was not how he imagined this would go. “There’s nothing gay about kissing the homies.”</p><p>Kuroo pulled fully back from Bokuto’s face to cackle and Bokuto slouched even further into the couch, his lower lip jutting out. If he’d wanted to be made fun of, he would’ve explained the situation to Akaashi. Then again, he supposes, he and Kuroo do often take the same side.</p><p>Noticing his discontent, Kuroo began playing with the strands of his hair that were already starting to droop as a consolation for laughing. “So this isn’t gay then?” Kuroo mused, making a point to tug the hair he held in his hand.</p><p>Bokuto swallowed a moan, ducking his bottom lip into his mouth and hearing the clack of metal against his teeth. “Nope, perfectly straight.”</p><p>He heard a snicker right behind him before a body bent over the back of the couch. A cool nose pressed up against the underside of Bokuto’s jaw, warm breath cascading across his skin and leaving a ripple of goosebumps in its wake. “How about this?” Kuroo mumbled, his lips lightly grazing his skin. A flash of tongue tickled him again as Kuroo licked his lips.</p><p>Bokuto swallowed thickly and fought to keep his eyes open, his breath rattling his whole chest, the fist full of his hair in Kuroo’s hand making it difficult for him to move his head elsewhere. Even if he’d wanted to. “Not that either,” he choked out.</p><p>Kuroo hummed, as though he was mulling it over. Bokuto could feel the vibration through his whole body. It took his whole brain to remember how to drag in just one breath, his heart pounding even harder as Kuroo paused, a few beats passing. Eventually, Bokuto feels a smirk stretch across Kuroo’s mouth. “Interesting,” he purrs. At that, Kuroo stands back up again and releases Bokuto’s hair, the breath he’d been holding coming back in full force. But before he could even begin to really catch his breath again, Kuroo had left the room fully, claiming he had homework that had yet to be done, as if he’d ever <em>once </em>waited this late to do homework, leaving Bokuto to stare at the blank T.V. screen and wonder what the fuck just happened.</p>
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<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
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  <em>“Trying new things in the bedroom, frosted tips?”</em>
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  <em>“You would know that I’m not.” There was a pause after he’d said it and Bokuto flushed at the unintentional insinuation. “We live together -- you’d hear it,” he clarified unnecessarily; Kuroo was already laughing from where he was leaning against the door. </em>
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  <em>So, they weren’t dating. Technically.</em>
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<p>or 5 bf (best friend) kisses and 1 <em>bf</em> (boyfriend) kiss, for real this time</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you so much for all the super sweet comments !!! 🥺🥰 they really made me churn out this chapter even faster 💞💖❤️</p>
<p>i didn't wanna give this chapter a title because i didn't give one to the last one but if I <em>had<em> it would've been <em>distance makes the heart grow fonder</em> bc i feel like it sums it up 😌</em></em></p>
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    <em>lol i fully had every intention of making this chapter a lot shorter and then... i wrote it... and it was not...... sdhshsg i just love bokuroo so much !!! i have a lot of feelings alright 😔 peep the angst tag lmao</em>
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    <em>anyways ! i hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks again always to lauren for yelling with me about idiots to lovers</em>
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    <p><em>Oww. </em>Bokuto grumbled and flexed the sore muscles in his hand. The injury wasn’t so bad that he’d had to get off the court during the practice match, in fact, it was probably barely a sprain, but just thinking about how the slam of the spike had bent back his fingers flashed hot pain up his fingers. Like a stubbed toe. But, you know, if that toe was two of his favorite fingers.</p>
<p>He sighed and rewrapped his fingers, realizing that it was the best it was gonna get for right now. At least, until he could get home and ice it. Carefully, he began putting everything back in his bag and tried to ignore the looming textbooks that slowly became buried. </p>
<p>The rest of his teammates had left a lot earlier, claiming that they’d also had work to do, so he was left to pack up alone. Not that he didn’t think they had homework to do, with the beginning of the new semester, everyone was busy now, but he <em>had </em>seen the way they’d picked up speed while packing after Bokuto had suggested more practice after the game. He also distinctly ignored the disappointed glare that his captain had sent him, having seen Bokuto’s flinch at the injury. </p>
<p>He was <em>fine-ish. </em>Nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a little spike practice. Apparently, his captain didn’t agree as he strongly implied that Bokuto wouldn’t be playing much of the next game if <em>miraculously </em>his fingers were worse off then than they were now. </p>
<p>“Trying new things in the bedroom, frosted tips?”</p>
<p>“You would know that I’m not.” There was a pause after he’d said it and Bokuto flushed at the unintentional insinuation. “We live together -- you’d hear it,” he clarified unnecessarily; Kuroo was already laughing from where he was leaning against the door. </p>
<p>So, they weren’t dating. Technically, he guesses, because he hadn’t really given Kuroo an answer. Of course, that hadn’t stopped Kuroo from teasing the everloving shit out of him. Case in point: Bokuto’d seen him in the bleachers at the start of the game (as if he was so hard to miss). </p>
<p>“That did look like a hard hit, though.” The mirth in his eyes didn’t go away but as Kuroo walked closer, he could see the concern that lurked there, too. “Surprised they didn’t come clean off.”</p>
<p>He stuck out his tongue and finished zipping up his bag. “I’m sure if your fragile fingers can handle my spikes then I’ll be just fine.”</p>
<p>“Oh ho! Maybe we should get some of your teammates for a three-on-three and I can <em>handle </em>a few more.”</p>
<p>“Not that you did much of that when we played against each other,” Bokuto grinned wickedly up at him, leaning his head back against the lockers behind him. “And now that you’re retired…”</p>
<p>Bokuto knew that Kuroo had, in no way, let himself go. Beyond the <em>obvious</em>, he was sure a fairly large part of him even missed playing volleyball, if how often he kept up with Nekoma was any clue. This might’ve been a small ploy in getting him to agree to play against him again.</p>
<p>Kuroo’s eyes narrowed but otherwise kept his cool demeanor, one foot up on the bench next to where Bokuto’s bag was sitting. “You know, you’re doing a lot of talking for someone who couldn’t block a ball without hurting himself.”</p>
<p>Bokuto scowled. “It’s a small injury.”</p>
<p>Kuroo gave him a closed-mouth smile and patted his cheek, looking every bit as conniving as the Cheshire cat. “For your sake, I hope it heals fast. Injuries on your dominant hand tend to stunt performance.” The impish look on his face revealed his intent to tease, but when he opened his eyes, the look his face melted into promptly evaporated all thoughts in Bokuto’s head.</p>
<p>“Guh??” he spluttered, his face going red. “I’ll stunt your performance!”</p>
<p>Kuroo shrugged. “My performance is retired. But if you must, can you stunt it at home? I don’t wanna have to catch the last train,” he whined. </p>
<p>Bokuto shouldered his bag and stood up abruptly, hoping to catch Kuroo off guard so he could flick his forehead with his- wait, wrong hand. In the couple seconds it took him to think about switching hands, Kuroo had already caught his wrist before he could drop it back to his side. Instinctively, he jerked his hand away, but Kuroo’s grip didn’t ease up and neither did his gaze which was firmly locked on the bandaged fingers. </p>
<p>This close to Kuroo, he could just see the gold of his right eye peeking out from under his fringe, his face twisted into something a lot more thoughtful as he used his free hand to bend back his palm and inspect the injury. Kuroo frowned a little bit and Bokuto stuttered on an inhale as he caught the tip of his tongue peeking out between his lips as he concentrated on Bokuto’s handiwork. </p>
<p>“You didn’t even wrap it right,” he tsked, taking off the bandage and finally looking up at Bokuto.</p>
<p>“It- <em>ouch!</em>” Bokuto flinched and pulled on his arm, making Kuroo step closer to keep his grip on Bokuto’s wrist. </p>
<p>Kuroo paused in his movements, raising both of his eyebrows. “Ah, sorry. I didn’t know where it hurt.”</p>
<p>“Ask next time,” he huffed exasperatedly, letting his hand go lax and looking anywhere that wasn’t Kuroo’s very, very close face. As long as he didn’t think about the last time they were this close then he’d be <em>fine. </em></p>
<p>“Sorry,” Kuroo mumbled. Bokuto could feel Kuroo’s breath tickle his skin the more his fingers became exposed and he struggled to regulate his breathing. Not thinking about it was proving a lot more difficult than he’d originally anticipated. Especially because Kuroo’s mouth was <em>right there </em>and it’d be so easy to just move those two inches closer and press his face up and- sigh. </p>
<p>Not bothering to fight the desire to look, Bokuto turned his head to watch Kuroo again and found him staring right back at him, Bokuto’s limp palm held loosely in his palm. He watched as Kuroo’s eyes flickered around every part of Bokuto’s face and lingered at his mouth. </p>
<p>Before Bokuto could do what he really, <em>really </em>wanted to do, he felt, more than saw, his hand being pulled up by Kuroo and- if his brain hadn’t short-circuited before, it certainly had now. </p>
<p>Bokuto choked on a swallow as Kuroo smirked at him -- at least, as much as he could from the kiss he was pressing against Bokuto’s hurt fingers. He flexed his fingers and felt each feather-light kiss Kuroo pressed up and down his pointer and middle finger, making sure he was extra careful with how he handled his hand. As if that was one of Bokuto’s more pressing concerns and not the fact that he was absolutely not breathing.</p>
<p>“Feel better?” he murmured, his lips still dragging against the skin of his fingers. Kuroo pinned him with that damn look in his eye, not breaking eye contact once as he skimmed his lips up and down, looking like he knew exactly what he was doing. </p>
<p>Bokuto was officially out of commission. “<em>Hng</em>.” </p>
<p>“Eloquent,” Kuroo laughed softly, finally looking away to finish wrapping Bokuto’s fingers properly. </p>
<p>Bokuto flexed his fingers again for good measure. “Fuck off,” he inhaled sharply, oxygen finally flooding back to his lungs. </p>
<p>When Kuroo finished wrapping them -- much tighter this time, he admitted begrudgingly -- Kuroo smacked another kiss on his palm this time, completely disregarding his vital attempts to get his breathing under control. </p>
<p>“Great! Let’s go,” Kuroo announced, not letting go of Bokuto’s wrist. Instead, he used it to drag him out the door behind him. “I need to pick up some things from the store.”</p>
<p>Bokuto sighed and ignored the flush in his cheeks as he followed after him. You know, he really thought he could do this whole no-kissing thing but it was proving to be a lot more difficult than he’d previously expected. </p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Once Bokuto’s fingers healed, he decided to move his mind away from whatever <em>that </em>was in the club room, and onto his next big game. Not that it was very hard to do so. After the incident, there had been a few accidentally-on-purpose touches but the kissing had been dramatically reduced to zero. He knew that Kuroo was purposefully putting him at arm’s length so that he could figure out what, exactly, it was that he wanted but it was really having an adverse effect. </p>
<p>Kuroo always being there, within his peripheral vision, was only adding fuel to the fire under his skin. Besides, Bokuto was easily an “act first, think later” type of person; all this contemplating wasn't even remotely in his nature.</p>
<p>He just wanted one kiss, was that too much to ask? Gods, there is no way he appreciated those kisses enough while it was happening. The way his hand felt on his jaw, and how he would <em>draag </em>his thumb against his cheekbone and then down to his lower lip. How his lips would follow right after it. That stupid smirk he’d get on his face when he knew it was particularly good or the beat that Bokuto’s heart skipped whenever he’d lean down, watching him every step of the way in until he wasn’t anymore. He missed it! And it wasn’t fair.</p>
<p>A slap to his back snapped Bokuto out of his thoughts and one of his teammates passed him his drink, not looking too concerned by Bokuto’s clearly distracted face. His team had seen him contemplative after a game too many times at this point to get particularly worried, even when they won a game as well as they had this time. It was when he got drunk and started singing rhapsodies about each member (<em>very</em> <em>detailed </em>rhapsodies, there were no holds barred) that they were cautious about. Each drink was closely monitored -- no surprise there, it <em>was </em>game season -- to save them the embarrassment, as if he wouldn’t do it sober. </p>
<p>Fortunately for them, Kuroo said he’d come to this outing to express his congratulations on the win so Bokuto was on his best behavior. </p>
<p>“You good, man?” His friend, Yuki, who passed him the drink smiled reassuringly at him, but his eyes looked as if he were unsure if he should regret it. </p>
<p>Bokuto was too busy trying to repress the flashbacks. “Yeah, I’m good,” he smiled back, not as halfheartedly as he’d expected. It felt good to hang out with them after not having seen his team for so long over the break. Though they had had practice games together recently, it just didn’t feel the same as seeing everyone finally let their hair down in the dim lighting of the bar they’d chosen. He loved his team a lot and knows he’ll be upset when it’s finally time for them to go their separate ways. </p>
<p>Yuki hummed and nodded towards the door, waving goodbye to a couple of their responsible teammates that were clocking out early. “Isn’t your friend supposed to be coming?”</p>
<p>“He has work so he’s gonna be a little bit late.” Desperate to change the topic before he <em>really </em>caught on, Bokuto tried, “And what about your girlfriend?”</p>
<p>As their vice-captain, Yuki was nothing if not incredibly perceptive, especially with matters relating to relationship drama (or whatever it was between him and Kuroo. He never did say anything about that date) and the works. He was an infernal gossip but knew where to draw the line which was usually somewhere around nervous sweating. Bokuto felt like he was probably almost there.</p>
<p>Akane, their setter, was a lot less kind, piping up with a groan from the stool beside him. “Ugh. Is this turning into a couples outing now?” </p>
<p>“We broke up a few hours ago.” At their worried glances, he clarified with a shrug. “Different schedules. It was a long time coming.”</p>
<p>“And then there was one.”</p>
<p>Bokuto frowned. They were both looking at him now and Bokuto was floored by the complete seriousness in their eyes. “Wait, what? We’re just friends.”</p>
<p>“Is this the same...” Yuki whistled and gestured to the right side of his neck, “<em>friend </em>from a few months ago?”</p>
<p>“Or the one that you mysteriously disappeared into the club room with?” <em>Whoops. </em></p>
<p>Bokuto flushed beet red and downed the rest of his drink. Ignore what he said. They’re awful. “It’s not like that,” he grumbled. “We’re just roommates.”</p>
<p>“I’m sure,” Akane snorted, taking a sip of his drink.</p>
<p>That seemed to clue in the last piece of the puzzle for Yuki; his status as head of team gossip could remain firmly in place. “Oh, Kuroo Tetsuro, right? He’s nice.”</p>
<p>Both he and Akane gaped at him, with Akane gradually looking more put-out the more smug Yuki got. “You know his name??”</p>
<p>“I met him before a game once.” His nose was all but in the air at that point and Bokuto signaled down the bartender, seeking a quick end to his torture. </p>
<p>“Huuh? That’s not fair!” Akane spun his head back to Bokuto and began jabbing him in the chest. “What, do you like him more than me or something?”</p>
<p>“I don’t really like either of you right now,” Bokuto said plainly, trying to figure out how in the hell they got onto this topic of conversation in the first place. Wasn’t the cold sweating enough deterrent?</p>
<p>Yuki carried on as though he’d never heard him. “He was pretty cute, too. His thighs looked like they could crush heads; no way he hasn’t played a sport.” </p>
<p>Akane whistled lowly and then nodded like he was getting introspective over the thighs of a guy he didn’t even know. Which, knowing him, he totally was. “<em>Thick</em>.”</p>
<p>Bokuto’d had just about enough of this. “He’s <em>very </em>cute and a volleyball player and it’s none of your business.”</p>
<p>“He plays?” Akane frowned. “Why isn’t he on the team?”</p>
<p>Just as Bokuto was about to very helpfully point out the <em>none of your business </em>part of his original point, Yuki’s smirk shifted from self-satisfied to downright shit-eating as he turned to the door. “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”</p>
<p>Bokuto should probably be disappointed in himself with how fast he turned to look, as if it wouldn’t absolutely prove their point if he was lying. But he wasn’t lying and Kuroo was right there and he looked <em>good. </em>Like, really good. Kuroo had spotted them almost instantaneously, given their seat at the bar and its proximity to the door, and saluted when he noticed all three of them staring at him. Even through the low lighting of the bar, Bokuto could see that he’d already rolled the sleeves of his <em>very</em> form-fitting dress shirt up to his elbows, along with undoing a couple of the topmost buttons. Pulling on his tie knot to loosen it, Kuroo smiled when he finally made eye contact with Bokuto and jerked his head to the side, beckoning him over. </p>
<p>Bokuto was on his feet faster than he’d snapped his head around, only narrowly avoiding tripping over the leg of his stool.</p>
<p>“Definitely a volleyball player,” Akane whispered to Yuki conspiratorially, his eyes never leaving where Kuroo was pulling the tie off his neck and shoving it haphazardly into his pocket.</p>
<p>“I told you,” Yuki mumbled back, watching just as avidly. “Damn. Is it bad that I want him to turn around.”</p>
<p>“Oi. Stop sexualizing my roommate.”</p>
<p>“You know, that’d be a lot more compelling if you weren’t drooling right now.” Akane placed a hand on Bokuto’s shoulder and gave it a slight push. “Go get ‘em, tiger. See if you can get him to undo a few more buttons.”</p>
<p>Bokuto flipped them off but made his way over to where Kuroo was standing just a little bit off from the door, outstretching his arms like he wanted Bokuto to run into them. Like he hadn’t seen him less than eight hours ago. Bokuto picked up the pace (he did not run, alright; he’d never hear the end of it), encouraged by the tugging of his heartstrings, and enveloped Kuroo in a hug in lieu of a greeting. </p>
<p>“Congrats on the win.” Bokuto hummed in thanks, his body sagging reflexively into the very warm body. He was hyper-aware of the fact that his friends were, in fact, right there but Kuroo was right here, in his arms, and he smelled so <em>good.</em> The ripple of a shiver went down his neck and lodged itself between his shoulder blades when Kuroo’s lips brushed the rim of his ear, not bothering to fight the desire to bury his nose in his dress shirt. They hadn’t been close like this in so long and Bokuto was fighting to retain awareness of his surroundings. </p>
<p>As if manifesting the touch he so deeply desired, Bokuto felt Kuroo tenderly graze his lips against the side of Bokuto’s throat, his skin so hypersensitive he couldn’t miss it. The arm around Kuroo’s neck tightened with the hitch in his breath, and he tilted his head up, hoping that it was low enough for it not to arouse too much suspicion, <em>begging </em>that it was high enough for Kuroo to get the hint. Thankfully, Kuroo took it as his go-ahead and mouthed small kisses up the line of Bokuto’s neck, more breath and lip than pressure, and Bokuto’s fist clenched so hard he could feel the imprint of half-moon marks form on his palm. </p>
<p>Compounded with the alcohol he’d had earlier, Bokuto could feel his brain go foggy when Kuroo ran his tongue along the underside of his jaw and planted a kiss onto a spot he particularly liked before latching on, sucking and nipping over and over again. The hands that were nearly holding Bokuto up at this point radiated heat through both of their shirts, and the warmth spread across his skin<em>. </em>He was so fixated on the heat of Kuroo’s tongue that when he backed away, he had to concentrate not to full Kuroo’s neck closer, a whine rumbling in the back of his throat. </p>
<p>“Your friends are watching us.” His tone was offhanded but Bokuto could feel a smirk press into his shoulder, his hand still rubbing circles into his lower back.</p>
<p>Bokuto would’ve laughed if he wasn’t so desperately trying to catch his breath. Gods, he’d get him back for this.  “Yeah, they wanted to meet you.”</p>
<p>As if the words wouldn’t just feed his ego.  “Aw. I wanna say hi.” Bokuto felt Kuroo straighten up with an obnoxiously large grin, releasing Bokuto out of the embrace to walk away and pretend like what had just happened was completely normal. He guesses, for them, it really was.</p>
<p>As he turned around, he noticed that Akane and Yuki really had been looking at them smugly, not even bothering to pretend to look away. Kuroo got there first and Akane wasted no time in pulling him into a vigorous conversation about the pros and cons of joining the volleyball club. When that didn’t work (it was pretty obvious that Kuroo had a part-time job — his schedule wasn’t exactly clear), he switched topics and began discussing the exact details of his workout regiment. </p>
<p>Bokuto didn’t bother joining in, given that he was already privy to both and maybe a little bit because of the arm that would press against his every now and then, knuckles brushing up against his own before pulling away completely, and Yuki noticed, taking the time to pull him aside. Bokuto thought he was just upset at not being part of the conversation but the smirk he’d been watching them with was still prominent. </p>
<p>Yuki made the same movement he had earlier except without the whistle, circling his finger in the air around the side of his neck. Shocked, Bokuto quickly clamped his hand up to the side of his neck but the damage was already done; he could feel that the skin under his hand was a lot more tender than the rest of his body. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kuroo smirk in the middle of his story. Oh, yeah. He was definitely getting him back. </p>
<p>… </p>
<p>“Ah, idiot. Watch it, you’re gonna hurt yourself.”</p>
<p>Bokuto blinked blearily as he narrowly avoided tripping over his own two feet in the <em>genkan </em>a second time while trying to get his shoes off. Oops. Despite his lower body being about the only thing he could feel, his range of motion felt entirely restricted and he just wanted to sit down for a bit. Why couldn’t he get these stupid shoes off? And why were his teeth falling out?</p>
<p>“<em>Stop </em>pulling out the gauze. Geez, you’re a menace.” Yuki toed off his shoes and swatted away the hand Bokuto was using to poke the cotton. </p>
<p>How could he say something so hurtful? That was the absolute final straw for Bokuto’s frustration and he collapsed on the step, tears pouring out his eyes. “Tha’ was so mean,” he sobbed, pouting up at Yuki whose face was quickly gaining more color as he bent down to console him. “You <em>hate </em>me.”</p>
<p>“No, no! Bo, I don’t hate you. I was just joking, okay?”</p>
<p>“You <em>do</em>,” he cried, his face burying itself in his hands.</p>
<p>Yuki peeled Bokuto’s hands away from his face and wiped the tears away. “I don’t! I just want you to be safe because the medicine they gave you to take your teeth out can make you a little clumsy.”</p>
<p>Bokuto sniffled at the resolution in his voice but still kept his eyes downcast, not sure if he believed him yet. “Okay.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Yuki sighed, looking significantly calmer now that he was cheering up. “Hey. Do you wanna go see Kuroo? He’s here, right?”</p>
<p>Yuki must’ve figured that distraction was the best tactic and he was very right. Bokuto instantly perked up, rubbing the tear tracks off his face. It was such a weird feeling being tired and then closing your eyes and not feeling sleepy at all. “Kuroo...?”</p>
<p>“Yeah! Let’s go see him,” he pushed, not leaving it up for debate. Instead of waiting for Bokuto to stumble to his feet, Yuki grabbed Bokuto’s waist and slung his body over his shoulder, using one hand to grab his waist and the other to steady his calf. </p>
<p>Bokuto’s body sagged with exhaustion and he scrubbed his eyes, still feeling at the brink of tears. He had no clue how far into the apartment Yuki was taking him, too tired to do anything more than swing his arms back and forth. Yuki was so nice. Driving him to the dentist and everything. Ugh, with the blood rushing to his head, it was even harder to tell what he could and couldn’t feel, taking the time to prod his numb bottom lip. He giggled to himself, rubbing his lip and tugging at the ring there. It felt like there was absolutely nothing there at all! The same went for his cheek, and his gums, and… wait a second. Where was his <em>tongue? </em></p>
<p>A sob whipped itself up in his chest. “My tongue is missing,” he wailed and groggily kicked his feet, feeling Yuki come to a complete stop. A laughing, different voice interrupted Yuki’s deep sigh and he didn’t get a chance to address it before his back was meeting the soft cushion of their couch. </p>
<p>“Interesting. Doesn’t sound like it,” the voice said, and Bokuto saw the lens of a phone camera in his immediate view. Grinning through the tears, he posed for the camera and watched Kuroo’s amused face pop up above it. </p>
<p>
  <em>Wow. Wowowow. </em>
</p>
<p>“Kuroo,” he hiccuped, feeling his heartbeat increase as he stretched an uncoordinated hand up to make sure the man above him was real.</p>
<p>Kuroo laughed at the rapid change in disposition, squeezing his hand briefly before letting it go. “Hi, baby,” he murmured, smiling softly.</p>
<p>“Okay, I’m gonna go before he discovers something else is missing,” Yuki said, dropping Bokuto’s apartment keys and his medicine on their kotatsu.</p>
<p>Bokuto whipped his head back around to Yuki. “What about my tongue?” he cried at the same time Kuroo asked, “You’re just gonna leave without giving him his tongue back?”</p>
<p>Yuki didn’t seem nearly as amused, shaking his head and rubbing his temples. “Your tongue’s in the medicine bag. Bye.”</p>
<p>“Wait!” he yelled, and Yuki turned to him with a questioning look on his face. </p>
<p>Bokuto sat up slowly from where he was laying on the couch and turned his head to stare at him, making sure that his words really sunk in. “I love you,” he stated, deathly serious. Kuroo choked back a laugh but that didn’t stop him -- this was <em>important.</em> “Your girlfriend broke up with you. That’s sad. But you’re great. And you’ll find someone new.” That was true; Yuki was really great. It had been a while since he’d talked about it at their outing and he meant to tell him but… he had gotten slightly sidetracked. </p>
<p>“Not Kuroo,” he quickly added, frowning once he remembered the blatant ogling. “Someone great, though. Maybe better... I don’t know, you’ll have to try.”</p>
<p>Kuroo didn’t bother suppressing his laughs this time, his face a gleeful and unabashed red. Yuki’s red face was a little less gleeful.</p>
<p>“Thank you for the vote of confidence, Bokuto. Later, legs.”</p>
<p>“See you for that three-on-three next week,” Kuroo called to Yuki’s retreating back and he waved to him on his way out the door.</p>
<p>“If my pride has healed by then. Drink water,” he yelled to Bokuto before leaving, and he hummed, fuzzy brain already having moved back to where Kuroo was standing at the foot of the couch. He lolled his head around the room, inspecting every inch as though it was his first time being here. His gaze swam a little bit at the edges and holding focus on any one thing for a long enough time had his eyes quickly unfocusing and his mind drifting, but he fought that feeling just to look at Kuroo.</p>
<p>He wasn’t doing anything particularly special, fiddling with Bokuto’s medicine bag with the hand not holding his phone, probably to figure out how often he had to take it, and his brain raced with a million different questions to ask him, just so he would turn his head to look at him. He didn’t know what it was about Kuroo’s attention, <em>specifically, </em>that made his veins turn to fire but whatever it was, his drugged up brain was bathing in it.</p>
<p>“What’s your favorite sandwich?”</p>
<p>Kuroo thought about it, returning the bag to its original place on the kotatsu. “Um, I don’t think I have one. I like <em>yakisoba pan </em>if that counts.” It doesn’t. “Why? Are you hungry?”</p>
<p>“No.” He looked away and stared unblinkingly at the ceiling, contentedness fitting itself in his chest as his eyes unfocused again, feeling like his whole body was blurry. When he looked back down, Kuroo’s attention was elsewhere again.</p>
<p>Bokuto huffed, getting frustrated. He couldn’t figure out how to get him to keep looking at him. Or to get closer. “My cheeks hurt,” he lied. </p>
<p>That seemed to do the trick. Kuroo looked at him with a warily concerned expression. “Do they really?”</p>
<p>“No,” he blurted out again, still staring at him. “But you should kiss them anyway.”</p>
<p>It made him laugh, at least, and he put his phone away. “You’re not being nearly as embarrassing as we thought you’d be! The group chat is going to be very disappointed.” </p>
<p>Bokuto couldn’t wrap his fuzzy head around that so he simply did not think about it, choosing instead to look at how pretty Kuroo’s face got when he smiled. He didn’t even realize it was possible for Kuroo to get any more attractive and then his whole face lit up and his visible eye would crinkle, especially when he was teasing. Bokuto’s fingers twitched and he buried them into the couch cushion. </p>
<p>Once his phone was away, Kuroo gripped his ankle and then moved over to where Bokuto was laying on the couch, bending over and cupping his cheeks to pull his face forward. Bokuto felt his thumb rub lightly against his left cheek before pressing a soft kiss in the spot his thumb left. When he was finished with that cheek, he tilted his face and pressed a matching one on the other side, gently nipping at his skin. Before he could fully pull back, Bokuto grabbed his wrist and tugged insistently. </p>
<p>“You’re beautiful,” he said earnestly, feeling his jaw drop a little. The desire to say it again and again nearly had a fresh batch of tears welling up in his eyes.</p>
<p>Kuroo’s face filled with color, all amusement fading from his face as he seemed unsure what to do with the compliment. He pulled his hand back from Bokuto’s grip and ran it down his face, only succeeding in making it even redder. Eventually, he decided on holding his hand over his mouth, leveling Bokuto with a look that warmed him to the core, sinking him further into the seat. “Thanks, Bo.”</p>
<p>“Cuddle with me? Please?”</p>
<p>Kuroo hesitated, his arms tucked close to his body like he was restraining himself from reaching out. Bokuto brushed the hair tickling his nose out of his face, giving him his most pleading look. “Fine,” Kuroo sighed and kneeled on the couch, laying down and tucking in close so he wouldn’t fall off the couch.</p>
<p>Bokuto scooted in to give him space, humming when he felt Kuroo’s armrest around his waist. After a little bit, Kuroo pulled him in closer and wrapped his arm fully around his stomach, his nose tickling the back of his neck. The even puffs against Bokuto’s neck along with the warmth sitting in his stomach lulled him to sleep. He liked Kuroo so much, he would’ve cried if he hadn’t felt the onset of sleep creeping up on him. Lacing his fingers through Kuroo’s hand on his chest, he just barely restrained the desire to spin around and kiss him. </p>
<p>“You’re my best friend,” he mumbled, cuddling into Kuroo’s suddenly stiff body before passing out.</p>
<p>… </p>
<p>“I’m serious! Look!” Bokuto lifted his shirt and practically shoved his chest into Kuroo’s unimpressed face. Slipping his arms through the shirt, he pushed it to rest on his back instead of over his chest so Kuroo could get the full view. “There’s one more there!”</p>
<p>“Not ignoring the fact that you admire yourself in the mirror before showering,” he teased, and moved forward in his seat on the couch to look closer and grip his waist, “but you can’t just gain another ab spontaneously! Besides, I don’t see anything.”</p>
<p>“That’s because you’re not looking hard enough.”</p>
<p>Kuroo stared at him, mystified. “Your stomach is right here, how can I look any harder?” </p>
<p>So, maybe it could have been a bit of a placebo effect, due to Kuroo bragging to him yesterday and showing off the extra muscles he’d gained from going to the gym at a regular occurrence. But Bokuto did the same training! More so, if anything, since he also had volleyball practices on top of it -- of course, the club itself wasn’t that competitive, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t working any less hard!</p>
<p>…Okay, so <em>maybe </em>it did and <em>maybe </em>he also saw that they, possibly, maybe had the same exact amount of ab-<em>age</em>, but getting to flex for Kuroo and tease him at the same time was too good an opportunity to pass up. </p>
<p>Especially recently; Bokuto wouldn’t go so far as to say that Kuroo had been <em>avoiding</em> him, per se, but he had been weirdly distant ever since he’d gotten his wisdom teeth taken out. It felt like he was purposely avoiding being too close to him and when they were together, he’d pull touches that would typically linger. On the surface, everything seemed exactly the same… he just wouldn’t touch him for too long.</p>
<p>A part of Bokuto was worried that he’d said something to Kuroo to make him upset with him, but he’d watched the video that was sent to the group chat and nothing looked particularly off. So, in true Bokuto fashion, he’d just tease him until Kuroo told him what was wrong.</p>
<p>“Try again,” he said, pushing his stomach fully into Kuroo’s face, on purpose now.</p>
<p>Kuroo saw through him the second he stood in front of him and raised his shirt, but he played along, feigning disinterest by raising an eyebrow. “Bold of you to put your stomach right within biting distance.” </p>
<p>It was obvious that Kuroo'd attempted to say it impassively, but Bokuto could catch that twinkle of mischief in his honey eyes a mile away. It was the same look he’d given to drunk him all those nights ago and it had the same effect on him now, jumpstarting his heartbeat and making his fingers twitch where they rested on his own hips, centimeters away from Kuroo’s.</p>
<p>But he wasn’t drunk this time. Bokuto could look into his eyes and tell exactly what he was thinking and know exactly what he wanted to do about it.</p>
<p>Bokuto tilted his head down far enough that Kuroo had to lean back to look at him. “Oo, you wanna kiss me so bad,” he goaded, his shins bumping against the couch when Kuroo used the grip on his hips to pull him in. </p>
<p>“You wish,” he snorted, but his thumbs rubbed circles into the soft skin of his stomach. Goosebumps rippled underneath each gentle touch, and it only got worse when Kuroo flattened a hand against his stomach, trailing his fingertips up and down his sensitive tummy like he was counting each ab to see if Bokuto was lying. The churning in his stomach increased and he fought the urge to bury his fingers in Kuroo’s hair, or his own; instead, he laced his fingers tightly together behind his back, trying (and failing) to even out the rise and fall of his chest.</p>
<p>If Kuroo noticed, he didn’t say anything, but there was no way he was ignoring how Bokuto’s breath would stutter if he dragged his fingers in some places or pushed down in others. He choked on an inhale as Kuroo drifted his fingers upwards and then brought his hands down to the small of his back, pushing him closer. Warm breath unfurled across his skin and he felt Kuroo press a soft kiss just underneath his bellybutton, looking up at him from underneath his eyelashes and Bokuto knitted his fingers together tighter, a low whine rumbling in his chest.
</p>
<p>Trailing his mouth upwards, he pressed another kiss higher before backing off completely, lightly pulling Bokuto back farther so he could stand up. Bokuto stumbled backward but couldn’t focus his attention on anything beyond Kuroo looking at him, holding eye contact until Kuroo was upright and so close Bokuto could count each eyelash. Kuroo’s warm hands still pressed against his back but slid a bit higher to just below his shoulder blades. Bokuto swallowed, lowering his gaze to where Kuroo’s mouth was parted ever so slightly<em>, </em>his pulse spiking with the desire for Kuroo to <em>just kiss him. </em>His body went rigid at the intense longing, silently urging Kuroo forward those last couple inches.</p>
<p>Instead, Kuroo looked back down like nothing had happened. “You know, I still don’t see anything.”</p>
<p>Bokuto huffed out a laugh in spite of himself. “I think that you’re jealous I’m more ripped than you,” he breathed out.</p>
<p>Kuroo raised an eyebrow but then frowned down at his stomach. “Wait, I think I see something there,” he said, his finger poking a spot on his stomach.</p>
<p>No sooner had Bokuto looked down than Kuroo dragged his finger up and flicked his nose, cackling while Bokuto yelped in surprise and caressed his injured nose. <em>Fine. Two could play at that game. </em></p>
<p>Bokuto tackled Kuroo onto the couch and tickled the living daylights out of him, his bright cackles shifting into howls of laughter as he flailed around the couch. The more he tickled him and watched him laugh underneath him, the more Bokuto felt every bit as winded as Kuroo probably was. The hair that perpetually covered one of his eyes got dislodged in the chaos and Bokuto got a full-frontal view of his face that had him halting in his ministrations. </p>
<p>Kuroo relished in the brief break, taking heaving breaths with a lingering smile on his face, his hands falling back from his chest so they were only touching where Bokuto had yet to move his hands from Kuroo’s sides. Now that he got the chance to see both eyes in plain view, Bokuto got a front seat to Kuroo’s shift to confusion, most likely at the look that was currently on his face. It was probably clear that Bokuto’s heart wasn’t in it, but he couldn’t help it. His mind was flashing through the guarded looks Kuroo’d been giving him, the desperate feeling of wanting to kiss him earlier, and now, with every cell in his body <em>begging </em>for him to just lean that little bit lower and close the distance.</p>
<p>And <em>now</em>, pinning him with that concerned frown. Kuroo just looked so...</p>
<p>“What?” Kuroo asked, tilting his head as best as he could from where he was laying down on the couch. “You’ve been staring at me this whole time like you had something to say.”</p>
<p>“I do have something to say!”</p>
<p>“Okay, then…”</p>
<p>Bokuto puffed his cheeks out, flickering his eyes away for half a second before turning back. “I wanna kiss you,” he murmured. </p>
<p>Kuroo looked floored by Bokuto’s confession, as if he hadn’t been making it incredibly obvious this entire time. Or maybe it was hearing it out in the open that shocked Kuroo enough to avert his eyes. His stunned look melted into a more complicated expression before even-ing out, fixing Bokuto with a bone-tired look, like he was going to ask a question that he already knew the answer to. </p>
<p>“Bo, what am I to you?”</p>
<p>The answer should’ve been easy but he felt the words get stuck in his throat anyway. What was Kuroo to him? He was his best friend, the person he came to for everything. If he wanted to prank his teammates, if he needed help with any of his assignments. If he wanted to get out or stay in. Someone that he really, <em>really </em>liked to kiss. </p>
<p>Kuroo could smile at him and get his heart pounding. Or touch him and have Bokuto’s skin thrumming for the rest of the day. He could tell what Bokuto was thinking without ever having to say it. </p>
<p>
  <em>Everything. Kuroo was everything.</em>
</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” he choked out.</p>
<p>Bokuto watched as Kuroo’s defenses slammed back up, but he felt like he was watching it from in a dream, unable to stop the bull from stampeding the china shop. Except he was the bull. “You don’t know?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know!”</p>
<p>Kuroo let out a deep sigh and leaned back on the couch, rubbing the heel of his palm into his eyes. Before Bokuto could reach out and say something, <em>anything, </em>Kuroo pushed off the couch, sliding his body from underneath Bokuto. </p>
<p>“I need you to figure it out,” he stated, voice full of suppressed emotion, and turned to walk towards his room, leaving Bokuto on the couch that felt a lot colder.</p>
<p>… </p>
<p>Bokuto buried his face into the pillow beneath him, ignoring the persistent blaring off his phone alarm. It took him all of 20 seconds after blinking his eyes open to decide he absolutely was not going into class today, his entire body sinking into the mediocre mattress. </p>
<p>Drifting off, he distantly remembered that it was one of the last things he’d bought when they moved into the apartment, he and Kuroo perfectly content sleeping with pillows and blankets on the floor until Kenma and Akaashi yelled at them for not taking care of themselves. They went shopping for mattresses the next morning, seeing who could lay on the displays the longest before an employee asked them to get down. </p>
<p>Before that, though, on some nights, they would pile all their stuff in the same room and talk about absolutely nothing until their eyelids got heavy and their speech slurred. They’d both be turned on their sides, smiling dopily and laughing too loudly at jokes that weren’t even all that funny, the stupid pillow Kuroo used for his hair askew, and his typical smirk stretched into a soft grin.</p>
<p>Feeling like cold water dumped over him, he blinked his eyes open and stretched his arm beside him to get his phone off the bedside table, turning off the persistent alarm and very much <em>not </em>thinking about Kuroo’s smile. </p>
<p>Bokuto jumped off the bed and began desperately digging through his drawers for some sweatpants. He dealt best with confrontation and the silence was making him antsy; at least when he went jogging, his mind would be occupied thinking of the burn in a few extraneous muscles rather than a particular internal one that was making it hard to want to do anything beyond lay in bed forever. </p>
<p>The worst thing was that it wasn’t like he didn’t see Kuroo at all — they lived together, of course it would be pretty difficult to avoid each other completely. What hurt the worst was when he knew he <em>should’ve </em>been seeing him. After class, Kuroo would typically collapse on their couch and work on his homework immediately like a good student, never allowing the stuff he learned in class to escape his brain for too long. Not that it’d make a difference; Kuroo was the smartest person he knew. </p>
<p>Mornings were even harder given how hard they were to avoid. Bokuto had always timed his jogs to end around when Kuroo would typically wake up, sometimes picking up breakfast if he couldn’t be bothered to cook. And then they’d eat and cuddle on the couch until Kuroo knocked out for the second time, and he’d never thought anything of it until it wasn’t there anymore. </p>
<p>So not seeing him, for the first time, right after practice felt like the nail in the coffin, like he’d never get to be close to Kuroo again. </p>
<p>No different than usual, the apartment was silent when he opened his bedroom door to leave, the creep of sunbeams pouring gently in from the windows, illuminating little slivers of the hallway. Bokuto crept out as quietly as he could, slipping on his shoes and taking off down the longer path around campus. </p>
<p>It was quickly becoming apparent that he shouldn’t have tried, though. The chilled air burned his nose and snuck under his coat. He panted shallow breaths and puffed them out in small clouds, frustrated that he didn’t just give into his desire to sleep the rest of the day away. </p>
<p>As he rounded the last corner back to their apartment, a wave of relief crashed over him, quickly eaten up by a gnawing feeling in the pit of his gut. He’d really pushed himself this time, his legs near collapse as he fought to grip the handle and push the door open, almost forgetting his intention to be quiet. </p>
<p>He hadn’t been gone for too long — an hour, maybe an hour and a half — and he strongly debated eating before showering like usual, not sure if he trusted himself to stand up for that long under the hot water. Whereas usually, his mood would improve the longer he spent outside, he felt worse for wear, his knees straining to keep him up. </p>
<p>Figuring he might as well just give it a shot (because there was no way in hell he could sit at the <em>kotatsu</em> like everything was fine), he reached backward for the hem and stripped himself of his shirt. Or tried to, at least, his sweaty body making his arms get caught around the sleeves as he shimmied his neck underneath the collar. He huffed and flailed around trying to get it up over his head, accidentally stumbling into one of their kitchen chairs and squeaking it across the floor. <em>Shit. </em></p>
<p>Bokuto tripped backward, taking a couple seconds to right himself before jumping up and down in place to attempt to dislodge it, feeling the frustration build. <em>Fucking hell. </em>He should’ve just kept his sleep shirt on but he’d chosen a tighter shirt thinking it’d warm him up more. Conserve body heat, or whatever. He giggled out a manic mix between a laugh and a whine when the shirt refused to give to his wriggling body. Haha, worm. Damn, he really should be quiet right now.</p>
<p>“It’s so early. Why-”</p>
<p>Bokuto's heart rate spiked as he wheeled around immediately to face the voice. Not that he was able to see much of anything through the cotton of his t-shirt but Kuroo’s voice was pretty unmistakable. <em>Shitshitshit. </em>His heart pounded in the silence and he waited for Kuroo to say something, not sure if it’d be worth it to try and peek his head out through the neck hole to see the look on Kuroo’s face.</p>
<p>After a while, Kuroo spoke up, his question tinged with humor. “Do you want some help?” </p>
<p>Oh, thank the <em>gods </em>Kuroo wasn’t mad. Bokuto felt his shoulders sag in relief, his head drooping lower in resignation. “Yes, please.”</p>
<p>Kuroo was silent for a bit and then barked out a quick guffaw. “Wait, wait, I think I want a picture first.” </p>
<p>Wait? Where on earth would he be going? Outside to scare women and children with his pro bono Quasimoto performance?</p>
<p>Also, <em>no</em>. There was no way he could take the emotional blow; the group chat would have a <em>field day. </em>Bokuto writhed around harder and stuck his foot out to kick him, swinging through straight air. “I helped you hide from Kenma last month!”</p>
<p>“Whose fault was it that he was mad in the first place!” he accused back, little giggles flittering out as his voice got farther away. Bokuto guessed he was dodging his poorly aimed kicks.</p>
<p>“You bought the dye!”</p>
<p>“And you switched it!”</p>
<p>Tomayto, tomahto. “<em>Kurooo,</em>” he whined to try and get him back on track, flapping his elbows as much as he could. Which wasn’t very much, so he looked more like an overgrown chicken -- he might’ve tried to slip his arms back through the shirtsleeves and gotten stuck again but that was neither here nor there.</p>
<p>“Fine, fine,” he laughed. “Hold still.”</p>
<p>Bokuto did not; instead, he tried to help Kuroo pull it off by yanking on the collar, and after a couple quick tugs by the both of them, Bokuto was gasping in fresh air. </p>
<p><em>Ah, sweet, sweet relief. </em>Flinging the traitorous article of clothing off to the side, Bokuto turned back to Kuroo and tried not to let it show that his breath had been punched out of his lungs. Like this was his first time seeing him ever. Which was way easier said than done when Kuroo looked like <em>that</em>.</p>
<p>The early morning light bathed Kuroo’s bronze skin in amber patches across his right forearm and cheekbone. His laugh from earlier had petered into a soft smile, the lips on his handsome face quirked up at the end. “The pink was a nice touch.” </p>
<p>He certainly had thought so. They’d been walking on eggshells around each other, even worse than now, and Kuroo’d popped up in his room after practice one night, showing him the bottle of dye and letting him on the plan. He’d been giddy the whole week leading up to it and even worse on the day of. </p>
<p>[Bokuto had been elected to switch the dye under Kuroo’s correct assumption that he would only be the <em>second </em>person suspected, and if Kuroo was nowhere near the bathroom when it happened, they’d be in the clear. To do that, they’d gotten Hinata to volunteer to help dye Kenma’s hair, knowing he’d think nothing of the color, maybe assume Kenma was trying a new look. </p>
<p>There were a lot of moving pieces (he assumed; he’d left the majority of the planning to Kuroo), and it paid off perfectly; there was absolutely no proof of their involvement beyond their own shit-eating grins. In any case, Kenma still hadn’t spoken to him except to laugh at his misfortunes through text.</p>
<p>Afterward, Bokuto started buying breakfast and leaving it for him, and Kuroo’d left meat buns on days he came back late from class.]</p>
<p>The light splayed across Kuroo’s cheek shifted upwards to the height of his brow bone, adorning his cheekbone in shadows from his pretty eyelashes as he leaned forward. His arms tucked close to his chest and he inspected one of Bokuto’s biceps, honey eyes glowing under the light and crinkling up with the pull of his smile. “Jeez, Bokuto, how tight was your shirt? You’ve got marks on your arms,” he laughed.</p>
<p>“I love you,” Bokuto blurted out. Kuroo choked on his laugh and reeled back, his eyes widening. </p>
<p>Bokuto’s own jaw dropped to match. That… had not been what he wanted to say at all. But it was like once he’d said it, he’d opened the floodgates.</p>
<p>“I love you, I love you,” he repeated, meaning it more and more each time he said it. It was like everything just… <em>clicked. </em>He hated not being around Kuroo because he <em>loved </em>him. His heart pounded every time Kuroo smiled because he <em>loved </em>him. He loved every second they spent together, all the little things he did for Kuroo or Kuroo did for him just to make him happy. And Kuroo said he liked him, and Bokuto- Ugh<em>, </em>he was such an idiot!</p>
<p>Kuroo’s face flickered through different emotions, settling on incredulity. “Bo…”</p>
<p>Bokuto grasped Kuroo’s arms, pulling them uncrossed with no resistance. “I’m serious! I love you so much, I’m so stupid.”</p>
<p>“I-” he started, flickering his eyes across Bokuto’s face for any indication that he was not completely out of his mind. Wriggling one arm out from Bokuto’s grip, Kuroo brushed his chin and then slid his hand up Bokuto’s jawline. “You’re not just saying that because you wanna kiss me?”</p>
<p>Bokuto closed his eyes and leaned into Kuroo’s touch, wanting nothing more than to bury his face into the crook of Kuroo’s shoulder. Being so close to him <em>finally</em> had the itch under his skin melting and warming every inch of his body. He let go of Kuroo’s arms and wrapped both hands around his waist to bring him closer. “I wanna kiss you because I love you.”</p>
<p>“Then that makes two of us.”</p>
<p>He jerked his eyes open at that, unbridled happiness gleaming in his eyes. “You- still?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, of course,” Kuroo laughed, running his hand through the hair at the base of Bokuto’s neck. Bokuto hummed in contentment and Kuroo tugged a little, playfully. “Just don’t take so long to think about it next time.”</p>
<p>Bokuto pouted at him, still buzzing at the feeling of Kuroo’s hands in his hair. “‘S your fault. How am I supposed to think when you’re not there?”</p>
<p>The pink that had settled high in Kuroo’s cheeks at the beginning of his confession blossomed across his whole face, and Kuroo backed up a little to bury it in his hand. “Ugh, gimme a warning next time.” </p>
<p>“Sorry,” he grinned, not sorry in the slightest. Kuroo glared at him half-heartedly from between his fingers, and Bokuto got closer just because he could now. With the light still coming in through the window, Bokuto could see every fleck of an almost-freckle on Kuroo’s face. “Can I kiss you?”</p>
<p>Kuroo dropped his hands from his face and nodded, his eyes glittering, and Bokuto couldn’t help but press a soft kiss on his nose before moving down and pressing a deeper one on his lips. </p>
<p>Bokuto sighed against the slow drag of their lips, pulling Kuroo even closer by the waist and grasping at his shirt fabric. Kuroo tilted his head more to the side and slid his hands back up into Bokuto’s hair, rubbing circles along his scalp and Bokuto felt his grip tighten as the fire burned hotter in his fingertips. He’d had every intention of keeping the kiss lazy, but Kuroo was clearly not of the same mind.</p>
<p>In one fell swoop, Kuroo tugged on Bokuto’s hair and bit his lip, licking over it in apology but focusing the majority of his energy on where his lip met his ring.</p>
<p>“Have I ever told you how much I love this thing,” he rasped, his fingers already raking through his ungelled hair. </p>
<p><em>Hhhhh. </em>“<em>Ngh, </em>I got the gist,” he gasped out, ducking down to connect their mouths again. </p>
<p>Gods, he’d never felt so needy in his life. Like he could kiss Kuroo forever and not get tired of it. He didn’t know how long they’d been standing near the table, but Bokuto’s breath was coming out in pants by the time they pulled away.</p>
<p>“Date me?” he breathed, resting his forehead on Kuroo’s.</p>
<p>Kuroo chuckled and pulled him in by the chin for another kiss. “Yes, airhead, I’ll go out with you.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>and that's it, that's the tweet lol </p>
<p>as always, u can find me on tumblr <a href="https://uchiwaka.tumblr.com">here</a> and I hoped u like this ! </p>
<p>I'm also writing a bokuroo vampire fic for a bang 👀 so that might be next out</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>the working title was *soft hoots*</p><p>i'm on tumblr <a href="https://uchiwaka.tumblr.com">here</a> and twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/orchxrd">here</a> ! x</p><p>the second chapter is already outlined so expect that vv soon :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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